Today is the first day of #12daysofBuildingBoys! What’s #12daysofBuildingBoys? It’s our way of building awareness of the issues faced by boys and those who care about them. It’s a way to share information, ideas and best practices for building boys. It’s also our way to
How do you build boys? As you know, there’s no one right way to build boys. That’s why we’re asking you, the true experts — the parents, educators, mentors and activists — to tell us how you build boys. In fact, we’d like you to
The NFL has taken a lot of (deserved) hits lately. The league’s questionable handling of some of its players’ unquestionably bad behavior have left many wondering if the NFL, football and professional sports don’t contribute to a culture of toxic masculinity – a one-sided, tough-guy version of
…your shower is filled with manly bath products such as: and and sweet surprises Sometimes, you also find some not-so-pleasant surprises. That splotch, down there in the corner? That’s goop/goo/algae/nastiness from when Boy #2 cleaned out the fish tank this weekend. What’s the funniest/nastiest/most surprising
Consider this the Before pic. Except calling it the “Before pic” really doesn’t do justice to reality. This picture, taken in June 2013, is a fairly accurate representation of what Boy #2’s room has looked like for, oh, the last three or four years. So not really
Is your son struggling, in school or in life? I’m willing to bet that at least 80% of you are nodding your heads right now. Either your son’s grades are not what they should be, or he’s disorganized, distracted, in trouble all the time and/or
Dear young men, I want to tell you what I wish I’d been told, as I bumbled through the awkward years between 15 and 25. This whole letter might sound self-important, coming from a 34-year-old who writes mostly about how he’s just beginning to get
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not a boy, and I’ve never been a boy. I write from the perspective of a mom of four boys, from the perspective of a mom who sees and understands and is sympathetic to the challenges
I am a woman. A self-professed feminist. I am also astutely concerned with men’s and boys’ rights. Is that a dichotomy? An impossibility? No! As Emma Watson explained in her recent speech at the UN, “feminism by definition is the belief that men and women
Moms, it’s time for us to unite. I don’t care what color your skin is, or what color your sons’ skin is — we all share the same hopes and dreams for our sons, and together, we stand a much better chance of making them
The words we use to describe people influence our — and others’ — perceptions of them. That’s a fact I wish writer John Eligon had kept in mind as he was writing his New York Times profile of Michael Brown, the teenager shot and killed in
The absence of fathers has long been blamed for boys’ problems in society. Boys who lack regular interaction with a caring, loving, living-in-the-same-house adult male, the thinking goes, will become troublemakers. Dads are hugely important. Research studies, anecdotal evidence and common sense consistently show that dads’ involvement
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